ABA Mulls Ditching LSAT Requirement

The LSAT may soon no longer be an admission requirement for law schools.
With a number of law schools accepting the GRE, the American Bar Association is meeting in Washington on April 12 to consider dropping the LSAT as a requirement when law schools select students, Law.com reports.
Critics of the Revision
The Law School Admission Council, which administers the LSAT, argued that the LSAT offers a reliable predictor of a student’s success on campus.
“No one wins if this decision turns out poorly — not law school candidates, not law schools and certainly not the consuming public,” LSAC president Kellye Testy argued in a letter to the ABA.
Supporters of the Revision
On the other side of the argument, the Educational Testing Service (ETS), which administers the GRE, argues that the GRE offers more options for law schools to gauge admissions.
“ETS commends the ABA for its efforts to innovate law school admissions and hopes the council will approve revisions to the standards that give institutions flexibility in determining how to address the challenges that the legal profession faces and meet their obligation to enroll candidates they believe are capable of satisfactory program completion,” ETS vice president David Payne argues in a letter to the ABA.
Over 16 Law Schools Now Accept the GRE
In 2016, University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law became the first law school to accept both the LSAT and the GRE for admission. Since then, a number of schools have followed suit, including Harvard Law and Stanford Law according to The Economist.
Most recently, Chicago-Kent College of Law joined the list of schools opening admissions to the GRE.
Chicago-Kent dean Harold J. Krent says the GRE option attracts a more academically diverse pool of students.
“In particular, we believe that students with backgrounds in math, science and engineering will be attracted to our vaunted programs in intellectual property law and in legal innovation and technology,” Krent says in the school’s announcement.
Additionally, because the GRE is offered more frequently and widely than the LSAT, it will open law school admissions to more applicants in the US and around the world.
Sources: Law.com, The Economist, Chicago-Kent College of Law